HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY - A LITTLE LATE!

Independence Day was a little daunting. I don't like mid-week holidays so much anyway but this one was particularly annoying.

For starters - there are a lot of really fireworks happy idiots in this neighborhood and they started scaring the bejabbers out of the dogs on Sunday evening. Literally, Zeus couldn't stop panting and ended up sitting (all 70+ pounds of him) on Linda's lap for comfort. Eventually, he decided to seek comfort on MY lap! To say that this was a good news/bad news situation is a mild analogy. The bad news was that my lap went to sleep. The good news is that Zeus and I are now VERY good friends and this very timid boy has become very attached to me. Since I was already madly in love with him, this is definitely a good thing!

The noisy celebrations continued through last night, with the ensuing episodes of frightened doggies. Harley is made of sterner stuff than her brother, but even she was clearly frightened by the loud noises.

Add to that the thunderstorms that rolled through the area fairly frequently (but not nearly enough rain - at least here) and we had some seriously nervous animals.

Tim has no nerves I am convinced. NOTHING bothered him, dedicated as he is to maximizing lap time with any lap that makes itself available.

Sam, on the other hand, in his prior life was left out in the rain and storms far too often and he has a visceral need for my comfort that is truly touching. As cranky and difficult as my Sam can be, he is a complicated fellow who loves me without reservation. He may not be too terribly open to the friendship of others of his kind or dogs (or even Linda) but that is all out the window when it comes to me. And I truly hate seeing him so distressed because I am acutely aware that his history still informs his behavior, even though that happened in the first 16 months of his life and he has now had 4 years of my devotion and protection.

Of course, actual Independence Day followed my 65th birthday which happened on July 3rd. Every year on my birthday, I remember with love and no small amount of bemusement that immensely stubborn woman (my late beloved mother Irene) who did NOT want a 4th of July baby (too hokey, according to her) and thus, I was born at 11:56 p.m. on July 3rd. Do not discount my mother's enormous stores of determination. I love her and I miss her every day, but especially on my birthday.

Linda took me to dinner for my birthday at a marvelous Chinese restaurant named Chiang's Bistro here in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Fantastic food, superb service. This place is a keeper and to anyone who lives in the area - I highly recommend it. It's on Plantation Drive in Fredericksburg - Area 540, 373-9777. If you live in the area - go there. You won't be disappointed.